Joe Carey (Clare, Fine Gael)
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11. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the funding being provided for small scale local festivals in County Clare in 2018. [26720/18]

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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Support for festivals is provided from a number of sources, including from the Arts Council under the remit of my  Department, and Fáilte Ireland, under the remit of the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport.

My Department operates a Small Scale Local Festivals and Summer Schools Scheme, designed to support local cultural festivals and summer schools which are not in receipt of other public monies and which may not be eligible for funding from those bodies.

The total amount of current funding available to this fund for 2018 is €76,000.  71 applications were received in 2018.  52 projects were considered to be eligible under the scheme. I understand that there was one application from Clare under the  Scheme this year from Corofin Tourism & Traders association for the Festival of Finn. I am pleased to inform the Deputy that I will be providing the Festival of Finn with a grant of up to €2,000 towards festival activities.

In addition, Cruinniú na nÓg is taking place on Saturday, June 23rd in every local authority right across the country.  There are over 500 free events happening for Cruinniú na nÓg nationwide, with 13 of these events happening in County Clare.  These events include magic shows, craft workshops, film screenings, mask making, story telling, African dance among others. My Department is providing €10,000 to Clare County Council to support these events.

Building on the success of last year's Cruinniú na Cásca events, it was decided this year to focus on children and young people and the development of Cruinniú na nÓg is now a key initiative of the Creative Youth Plan to enable the creativity of every child and young person. 

Underlying the Creative Youth Plan, of which Cruinniú na nÓg is one of 18 actions, is a firm conviction that participation in creative and cultural activities from dancing to singing to coding equips our young people to flourish in their personal lives and helps give them skills that will stand to them throughout their lives.

Cruinniú na nÓg is a day dedicated to celebrating and encouraging children and young people to participate in a range of cultural and creative activities through performance, coding, theatre, art and music workshops, readings, screenings, special events and much more. It’s a day for ‘doing’, ‘making’ and ‘creating’ and I am sure that it will be enjoyed by communities and families all around the country including in County Clare. 

Local Authorities have been key to the delivery of this initiative and are a vital element of the Creative Ireland Programme. This year, my Department doubled the funding allocation from €1m to €2m  for the 31 local authorities to deliver the Creative Ireland Programme at local level and the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government provided €1m.  Local  authorities are currently finalising 5 year culture and creativity strategies and I look forward to publishing these shortly.